When you lose a tooth, the visual impacts it can have on your smile can be significant. Because your smile is such a dominant factor in your appearance, and confidence, that impact can seem like the most important aspect of tooth loss. However, there are also several not-so-obvious effects of tooth loss that can have an increasingly more severe impact on your long-term oral health. At our Santa Rosa, CA, oral surgery office, we can help you avoid those consequences by replacing your lost teeth with one or more highly lifelike, biocompatible dental implants.
The shifting of your remaining teeth
If you don’t replace a lost tooth at all, then eventually, the remaining teeth can shift so severely toward the empty space that the movement is obvious. However, it isn’t obvious at first, and therefore, you may not consider the impact this can have on your oral health when deciding whether or not to replace the lost tooth. When teeth shift to accommodate the imbalance in your bite’s pressure, their roots also shift within your jawbone. This makes them less sturdy, and under the uneven pressure of your bite, more likely to become damaged or forced further out of alignment.
The shrinking of your jawbone
When you lose a tooth and its root, its absence will have a gradual but severe influence on the health and integrity of your jawbone. Healthy teeth roots stimulate your jawbone when you bite and chew, which promotes a healthy flow of nutrient-rich blood to the jaw. These nutrients not only support your jawbone, but also the teeth that are embedded in it. When the stimulation decreases, your body marks the difference and sends fewer nutrients to the jawbone, allocating the rest to other areas of your body. Over time, the reduced flow of nutrients leads to jawbone erosion, or the loss of its mass and density due to lack of stimulation.
The gradual collapse of facial structures
As your jawbone shrinks, its ability to support the rest of your teeth becomes compromised, making you more likely to lose more teeth in the future. It also loses ability to support your surrounding facial structures, such as cheek bones, which can create a sunken appearance known as facial collapse. When you replace your lost teeth with one or more dental implants, the root-like posts restore the stimulation that your jawbone relies on so heavily. This helps prevent the jawbone erosion and facial collapse that can’t prevented otherwise.
Address tooth loss better with dental implants
If you’ve lost one or more teeth, then learn why dental implants may be the most successful option for rebuilding your smile. For more information, schedule a consultation by calling Santa Rosa Oral Surgery in Santa Rosa, CA, today at 707-545-4625.
